Hey,
Someone once said, ‘you can never really know a man until you know his story’. That is so true. As the Director of Mission Uprising I thought you might want to hear a little of mine. First things first, however, this is not MY mission. That might sound funny being that I am the “director”, but it is true. This is all Gods deal and He has merely assigned me and a few others to this calling. I am a part of a band of brothers who have been called to the frontlines for our King Jesus to be catalyst for the masculine journey.
So here is a short account of how I came to this calling.
My name is Mike Rasmussen; I am a follower of the true King, my Lord Jesus Christ.
For me it began with two questions. I had come to a crossroads of sorts, in my life. A choice to make. The questions came to me when I started to earnestly seek God’s counsel for the first time in my Christian life. Oh yes, I was a Christian but I had what I would describe as a transactional relationship with Jesus. I had asked Jesus into my life, but never really had a personal relationship with my Father.
I had a beautiful wife and 2 great kids. I had a great job and nice house, good friends. (still do!) But still something was missing. Some of you have been there, or maybe you are there now. So what were the questions?
First; Is this all there is to this Christian life? And the second; Who am I?
As I took these questions to my true Father, He was amazing in the answers He gave. The first thing I felt Him saying was to discuss these questions with a trusted friend. So I obeyed. I laid out the whole thing to Dan, my brother in Christ, and mission partner, over lunch one day back in 2002. He listened to what I was saying and asked me if I had ever read the book “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. Funny thing was I had the book but it had shared its place with the rest of the “I need to read books” on my bookshelf for about three months. But God has a way of timing things just right. Dan said, “You should read it.” He said the questions you are asking about your life may be answered there.” So needless to say I read the book and as promised, it rocked my world. The Bible is hands down my favorite book of all time and there is no substitute, but Wild at Heart was just the book God had ordered for my life at that moment.
I found out that there was more! So much more that I couldn’t even imagine. What Jesus offered me was Life, not just eternal life, but a life that was abundant, a life that mattered, a life that was a part of an epic story!
God also answered my other question, over and over again. Who am I? “You are my son, Michael”; “You are my son”. As you can imagine, my response was, “I know, I know, but really, who am I”! The answer seemed so simple, but oh how complicated that answer really is. God is still revealing that answer day after day so that I can fully understand what being God’s son means. So the answer to my question was quick, but my understanding of Gods answer is my journey.
What has God done? Since attending my first Ransomed Heart Boot Camp in the fall of 2004, God has laid out before me my role in His story. When I got back and began to unpack all the freedom and healing God had made available to me that weekend, I knew that a core desire I had was to share my passion for freedom and life with other men. My best friend and I, who was with me at the boot camp, shared the same desire. We looked at each other one day in late ’04 and said, “We need to do a boot camp, here in Indiana”.
We, together with a team of other men have now hosted 4 boot camps in Indiana. We are blessed to have a camp nearby in Southern Indiana that is awesome. 700+ acres of woods, all kinds of casual adventure activities, like trap and skeet, zip line, solo challenge, rock climbing wall and paintball wars just to name a few.
We use a very similar format as Ransomed Heart but with slight twist. We put together small “platoon groups” of 5-6 men with a “trail guide” (facilitator), that walks through questions that apply to each session. Because most guys that come are from Indiana, we suggest that men bring a group of guys to the event to go through the experience together. If men come alone or with another brother, we place them in groups of men from the same area and age range in hopes that they will desire to meet as a band of brothers after the event. The true freedom and healing happens in the platoon groups. Over and over again we hear from the trail guides of huge breakthroughs. It has been amazing!
As the events have grown my band of brothers have launched me into full time ministry. I have become the point person for our band. It was definitely something we needed, but more importantly it lined up with God’s calling on my life. He called me into this ministry and my brothers and I obeyed.
The ministry or mission, as I like to call it, is retreat based. The core vision is to “Be catalyst for the masculine journey”. We segment that out by events for “the man”, “the husband” and “the father”. We offer two “Indiana Outpost Boot Camps” per year, one Husband/Wife getaway weekend per year, two Father/Son camps per year and two Father/Daughter camps per year.
Please feel free to contact me anytime. I would love to hear from you! If you have questions about the mission, our boot camps or any other retreats, don’t hesitate to call or email me.
Strength and Honor!
Walkin’ the Path,
Mike
317-956-0040 cell
mike@missionuprising.com
www.indianaoutpost.com